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Saving Bali's dogs

Last year, in an attempt to stop the spread of rabies, authorities in Bali began poisoning dogs with strychnine, despite evidence that culling does not tackle the root causes of a rabies outbreak. It was reported that at least 20,000 dogs were killed with the poison, which causes instant paralysis, convulsions and a painful death.

WSPA has been working with our member society the Bali Animal Welfare Association (BAWA) and as part of the Bali Rabies Forum to end the cull, and instead roll out a rabies vaccination and education program, designed to protect Bali's dogs and people and hopefully eradicate rabies on the island.

Once it received the approval of local villages, the vaccination program began on December 10th and is now in full swing. As of mid March, the team had vaccinated an incredible 17,400 dogs in the Gianyar region of Bali.

An effective vaccination program

The team makes sure a minimum of 70 per cent of the dogs in each area are vaccinated before they move on – this percentage has been proven to be efficient in stopping the spread of rabies. They will also sterilize as many dogs as possible to manage the dog population. An education team travels to public schools and villages to teach people about proper dog handling and animal welfare, and about the importance of the rabies vaccination program.

After it is treated, each dog is given an orange collar to show that it has been vaccinated. Before they move on, the team will monitor the village and record the numbers of collared dogs to make sure they have vaccinated at least 70 per cent of the dog population.

In each village an agreement is made that if BAWA vaccinates the dogs in the village, there will be no more culling, and that villagers will call BAWA – not the government – if they see a sick dog. BAWA will then come and treat the dog, preventing any disease spreading. So far everyone in the villages has been happy with this arrangement.

Helping the people too

Many dogs in Bali are routinely fed and cared for, despite the fact that they may live outside and roam freely around the village. Though they are not leashed or in kennels, they are considered “owned” by the villagers, who were angry and upset by the culling but did not know how to stop it.

“They are just grateful we are able to help,” says Janice Girardi, the co-founder and head of BAWA. “They don’t want their dogs killed and it’s against their religion – but the government does it anyway, thinking erroneously that this will eradicate rabies. It won’t. Only vaccinating the dogs will stop rabies.”

The aim is that the success of this project will encourage the government to roll out the same program across the whole country. Eventually it is hoped that rabies will be eradicated from the whole island.

Janice had a thank-you message for WSPA supporters: “Every single day I thank WSPA and their supporters for making this vaccination program possible. We were feeling so hopeless watching tens of thousands of dogs being poisoned – owned dogs, loved dogs, healthy dogs, pregnant dogs – just because the authorities did not know how to vaccinate these dogs.

“With WSPA’s help, we will now be the pilot project for all of Bali, to prove that vaccination projects work. We will save 60-65,000 dogs in the Gianyar region all due to WSPA’s support. That’s amazing.”

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